Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights
Does anyone remember who served as America's first "black" president before President Barack Obama earned the title?
It was none other than William Jefferson Clinton, also known as Slick Willie, who was hailed by poet Toni Morrison and others as our nation's first leader to be mistreated because of his "blackness."
(Morrison defined "blackness" as single-parenthood, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. What would we have said if Newt Gingrich had made the same observation? But that's another blog.)
Well, it looks like Clinton is abandoning his black constituency in Harlem with word that his nonprofit William J. Clinton Foundation is moving most of its offices from Harlem to Water Street in Lower Manhattan.
But I wouldn't get too shook up over the move, Harlem.
The move of the foundation's offices makes sense in that it will cut expenses.
Hopefully, some of those funds will help further the foundation's work to improve access to health facilities, safer food and water and better business opportunities for black people in the U.S. and around the world.
And to be even more blunt, has any other ex-president in recent or distant memory done as much to identify himself with black America as Bill Clinton?
Remember Harlem wasn't even Clinton's first choice for a post-presidency headquarters back in 2000. He was supposed to move -- Jeffersons' style, to a deee-luxe apartment in the sky -- but caught public backlash for the more than $700,000 annual rent he planned to pay.
Clinton then settled on rental space just two blocks from the iconic Apollo Theater in Harlem, which had been undergoing its own gentrification for years.
Clinton was embraced by the locals. And he embraced them back. It's not unlike when Clinton was impeached during the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Where did Clinton first seek redemption after Hillary and Chelsea got through with him?
He sought out the black community through visits to black churches. Those visits represented Clinton's first steps to recover his reputation.
Bill Clinton's relationship with the black community won't be affected because he is moving some offices downtown to the financial district. Clinton and Harlem are inextricably linked in the public's mind.
Even if they wanted him to go away, the people of Harlem will never get rid of Bill Clinton. Does anybody think he will get any good greens, yams and fried fish downtown when he slips off his diet?
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